MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – The United States Department of Defense said on Tuesday it assessed that 3 civilians had been killed in one of the air strikes conducted in Somalia in 2021.
The drone strike carried out on Jan.1 in the Al-Shabaab stronghold of Kunyo Barrow resulted in civilian casualties, the statement says.
The Pentagon said it had received 6 reports indicating civilian casualties inflicted by US air strikes around the world in 2021 but only three of them were assessed.
The report “assesses that there were approximately 12 civilians and approximately 5 civilians injured during 2021 as a result of U.S. military operations,” the statement added.
Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan are among the countries where US air raids inflicted civilians casualties, according to the report.
Rights groups earlier accused the US of failing to provide compensation to the victims of drone strikes in Somalia. Dozens of civilians have been killed in US military operations in the country over the past years. Last month, 10 civilians were killed and nearly 20 others wounded in a drone strike that targeted a bus station in the town of Mubarak in the Lower Shabelle region.
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